GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
1720-177 8
34 Study for the Parte di ampio
magnifico Porto
Red and black chalk and brown and reddish wash,
squared in black chalk; H: 38.5 011(15 Vsin.); W: 52.8cm
(20I3/i 6 in.)
88.GB.i 8 (SEE PLATED.)
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: On mount, at bottom left,
inscribed J. B. Piranese in brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Geneva; art market,
Paris.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.THIS NEWLY DISCOVERED DRAWING WAS MADE AS A
preparatory study for the print Parte di ampio magnifico
Porto, dated to 1749-50 by A. Robison.^1 The evolution
of the design of the print may have begun with a study
in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden (inv. 1920-59),
that contains a few of the principal motifs, though they
are organized in an entirely different fashion.
This study was followed by the Museum's drawing,
which is even closer to the final design and of the same
size. In it Piranesi reduced the foreground area with
water, added the smoke at the top left, and closed the
right side of the scene with the section of a monument at
the right margin. The sheet is squared for transfer, sug-
gesting that it was probably made late in the develop-
ment of the composition. The rich and imaginative han-
dling of red chalk underdrawing and wash is
characteristic of Piranesi's work at this point in his career,
as can be seen in the large sheet showing the interior of a
palace (Louvre inv. RF 39.010).i. Piranesi: Early Architectural Fantasies: A Catalogue Raisonne of
the Etchings (Washington, 1986), p. 34.92 ITALIAN SCHOOL • PIRANESI